


Never Too Safe

by SaraJaye



Series: Ever After 'Verse [13]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Babysitter Coran, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family Fluff, Finale Divergent, Kid Fic, Not Epilogue Compliant, Parenthood, Parenting is a Learning Curve, baby proofing, super-strong Altean toddlers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-18 09:57:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17578694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaraJaye/pseuds/SaraJaye
Summary: Allura thought babyproofing a house would be easier the second time around. Her latest child proves her wrong.





	Never Too Safe

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cypsiman2](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cypsiman2/gifts).



"Not again!" The sound of wooden knicknacks falling off a shelf followed by her husband's groan and her two-year-old's giggling roused Allura from her nap, and she pulled herself off the divan with a sigh. The twins had been a bit of a handful at that age, but Maya was proving to be the equivalent of merging Athena and Danny Shirogane together with a splash of extra hyperactivity.

They'd blocked that shelf off before Alor and Emmeline were even born, making sure it was too high for a child to reach and moving anything that would let them climb up on there. While Alor had tried to jump up a few times, he'd gotten the message quickly enough; _that's not to play on, those aren't your toys._ Once they were old enough to know better Lance had moved it down a foot, which Allura had assumed would still be too high for Maya to reach.

"How is she getting up there?" Allura asked no one in particular. The desk was too tall for her to climb onto, the chair was pushed way in-

_Oh._

She walked into the office just in time to see Lance tapping his fingers on the floor, like he was trying to coax a cat out of somewhere. Yes, she realized, that had to be it. Maya crawled under the desk, pushed the chair, climbed on top, and-as the Earth expression went-bingo.

"So now we have something else we need to block off," she groaned. Maya's Altean super-strength was kicking in earlier than the twins' had, and she was clearly the clever one to discover the desk chair trick. Even Alor hadn't realized that as a possibility, and he was quick to catch onto the little things.

"Looks like." Lance stood up, dusting his knees off. "I thought we'd gotten everything! All the outlets, all the closets with dangerous stuff, the wires, the heavy lamps..."

"The cleaning products," Allura added. "Oh, quiznak, does this mean we'll have to move all of those things now, too? Or should we just wrap the house in that bubble wrap humans are so fond of?" She shook her head. "No, plastic is flammable and a choking hazard."

"Foam rubber, maybe? Unless it has that dangerous chemical that causes low intelligence in children according to all the parenting blogs." Lance buried his face in his hands. "Quiznak is right. If Maya could figure out how to get onto that shelf, who knows what she's capable of?"

"This must be how Keith and Shiro felt when they started dog-proofing their house," Allura sighed. "Except Maya can't teleport." That was one thing she could take comfort in, teleportation was something only the most advanced Alteans could manage. "We're going to have to child-proof the house all over again."

They left the kids with Coran (after finally coaxing Maya out from under the desk), since Keith and Shiro had gone away for a romantic weekend and Romelle was spending the day with Ryou Shirogane. They spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening re-ordering, re-organizing, and basically rearranging their entire setup out of fear of anything Maya "could" figure out how to access.

The sun was down by the time they were finished, and Coran arrived with Maya fast asleep on his back and the twins holding tiredly onto his hands.

"We played in the ball pit for this many hours," Emmeline yawned, holding up two fingers.

"We went to the children's museum," Coran explained. "They can't get enough of that ancient Altean exhibit! Especially the storybooks about King Alfor." He winked. "Though I admit I could barely put any of those down, myself." While the stories of her father had been simplified for Earth children, the curators had done a surprisingly good job of making sure they hadn't been entirely dumbed down. The books for the young ones focused on Father's accomplishments, while the more advanced books delved into the story of his ill-fated friendship with Zarkon.

"Miss Krolia was there with 'thena and the others, too," Alor said. "So we played with them."

"Good." Lance smiled. "I'm glad you kids get along better with Uncle Keith's kids than I used to get along with Uncle Keith."

"They're like peas in a pod!" Coran chuckled. "It was simply adorable."

"You don't look the least bit exhausted," Allura said. "I think you may be the only one." It was said to be rare that a babysitter had more energy than the children they sat for by the end of an evening. "But the house is finally safe!"

"Maya won't be getting anywhere near that shelf anytime soon," Lance added. "Or anything else even the slightest bit dangerous!" Coran blinked, looking around at the bare walls, baby gates in every corner, and tightly-locked cabinets.

"Yes, well done. However, what if either of _you_ needs to access one of those shelves or cabinets?" he asked, and Allura blanched. The question had nagged at the back of her mind a bit while they worked, but she'd ignored it, only thinking of Maya's safety.

"Oh, dear. You don't suppose we overdid it, do you?"

"Hey, you can never overdo it with child safety!" Lance insisted. "Besides, you and I can unlock the gates and stuff, or step over them." Technically, this was true, but the more she looked at the setup the more over-the-top it seemed. _So much for going on instinct instead of letting paranoid parenting blogs scare us._

"Maybe tomorrow we'll ask your mother's opinion," Allura sighed. "Right now, we should put the children to bed." Alor was practically asleep on his feet, and Emmeline was yawning. "Ah, but first-"

"Yes, it's quite hard to put a child to bed if you can't get anywhere near it!" Coran winked. Allura slowly stood up, stretching her aching limbs, and picked up Alor while Lance unlatched every gate they'd set up. Yes, they'd definitely gone more than a little overboard.

Coran helped them get the children settled into bed before going to his own room. While he didn't technically live with him, they'd made sure their house had an extra guest room so he could stay the night if need be. He was and always would be their family, after all.

She and Lance were too exhausted to do anything but change into their nightclothes and collapse into bed, much to their mutual disappointment.

"Next week, you and I should take a romantic weekend and leave the kids with Shiro and Mullet," Lance yawned. Allura smiled, stroking the curve of his ear with her fingertips.

"Why them and not Coran?"

"Because one, Coran does have a life of his own and I'm sure Iverson would love to invite him out for a drink," Lance said. "And two, it's not fair that Mullet gets to roll in the sheets with his husband while you and I have to spend the weekend re-doing the whole house cause our kid learned to move a chair."

" _Lance._ " She knew he was more or less kidding with the second part. He and Keith still had their little squabbles, and Lance would never drop that nickname, but she knew very well he was above being _that_ petty.

"How about they stay with your brother and his children?" she suggested.

"Oh, hey, didn't think of that. We'll see if they'll be around then!"

"Good." She kissed him. "Now let's get some sleep. Maya will be in to wake us as soon as the sun rises." She cuddled close to him, closing her eyes and sighing happily as his arms wrapped around her.

They'd get the hang of this child-proofing business sooner or later. Unfortunately, it would probably be once the children were too old for it to matter.

_Oh, well._


End file.
